BUMPER ASSEMBLY

Abstract: A bumper assembly in a vehicle body comprising a bumper beam (2) transversely attached to the front/rear longitudinal members (1) of the body by means of a load transferring connection exhibiting a reduced contact area compared to the available cross-sectional area of the members (1).

Description: Bumper assembly The present invention relates to a bumper assembly for vehicles, and more particularly to improvement in the connection between the bumper and the front/rear longitudinal structural members of the vehicle frame. Various bumper assemblies known from the prior art are provided with reinforcing or energy absorbing members disposed between the bumper and pair of front members. Customarily the bumper is not a part of the vehicle frame's main structure, but a so-called "hang on part" connected to the frame structure by bolts or via an energy absorbing component. Generally more complicated and heavy bumper assemblies are thus provided contrary to the demand for light weight simple assemblies of the vehicle structure. In order to reduce the vehicle weight and maintain the stiffness the bumper is nowadays a part of the main frame forming a front/rear cross member and often welded onto the main structure. Consequently, the conventional hydraulic or mechanic energy absorbing elements between bumper and front/rear members can not be used. Thus new requirements to the structure performance have to be met in order to avoid a high initial peak load during a vehicle crash. This peak load is presently tried to be reduced by weakening the front/rear members by pre-deformation, perforation or reduction of their size (cross-section) , something which in turn adversely effects the strength of the body structure. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel light weight bumper assembly avoiding the above disadvantages of the prior art reducing a peak load during the initial phase of collapse of the front/rear members and thereby the effects of a collision or alike upon the rest of the vehicle body and vehicle occupants. The above and other objects are achieved in accordance with the present invention by provision of a bumper assembly comprising a bumper beam being transversally attached to a pair of longitudin¬ ally extending front or rear structural members of the vehicle body and where only limited (partial) frontal areas of the longitudinal members are exposed to the load from the bumper beam by forming a connection of reduced load transferring area and ensuring a free space in front of the remaining frontal areas of the members and the bumper beam in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle as defined by the attached patent claims 1-7. This novel inventive design of the connection between the bumper and the front/rear members, where a main part of the load from the bumper during an impact is directed into a limited frontal area of the member, provides unstable conditions on the members at an early (initial) stage of the collision. This ensures a controlled collapse of the members by a free, unobstructed deformation of their frontal parts and thus limiting the initial peak load. Other objects, specific features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1-5, where Fig. la is a schematic top view of an assembly employable in the present invention, Fig. lb is a schematic cross-sectional view of the assembly taken along line I-I in Fig. la, and Fig. lc illustrates schematically in a cross-sec¬ tional view the assembly corresponding to Fig. lb after exposure to a front impact load, Fig. 2 is a schematic top view and cross-sectional view of another particular embodiment of the assembly (Figs. 2a and 2b, respectively) , Figs. 3a-c illustrate schematically still another embodiment of the assembly, Figs. 4a,b show yet another variant of the assembly, Fig. 5 is a graphic illustration of the relation between the applied load and longitudinal displacement of the bumper assembly con¬ structed in accordance with the present invention, and Fig. 6 illustrates in a cross-sectional view another employable bumper beam design. Referring to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 1 a bumper assembly is schematically illustrated in a top view (la) and in a cross-sectional view (lb) taken along lines I-I in Fig. la. The bumper assembly comprises a bumper beam 2 having a box-shaped configuration defined by a front wall 21, representing a load surface accomodating a conventional energy absorbing bar 3, and a rear wall 22 facing and transversely fastened to a longitudinally extending front or rear structural member 1 of a vehicle body, representing a load transferring contact area between the members and the bumper. The front and rear walls 21,22 are interconnected by side walls 23. The bumper beam 2 being typically extruded as a multichamber hollow shape in light metal (aluminium or Al-alloy) has an outer con¬ figuration allowing the connecting rear wall 22 to cover only a portion of the frontal area 11 of the longitudinal member 1. Furthermore, a free space 24 is provided between the free perimeter of the frontal area and the bumper beam 2 by means of diverging side walls 23 connecting the rear wall 22 and the front wall 21 of the bumper beam. It is essential for the present innovative principle that such connection resulting in unstable front walls of the members 1 under exposure to an axial impact load via bumper beam 2 allows for folding of the longitudinal member around the bumper beam 2 thanks to the provision of the free space 24 extending towards the beam as illustrated in Fig. lc. Referring to Fig. 2, the beam assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in a top view (Fig. 2a) and a cross-sectional view (Fig. 2b) , respectively. A conventional substantially rectangular bumper 2 is connected to the front member 1 by means of a connector 5 having a cross-sectional area less than the available frontal area of the front member 1, thus ensuring the required free space 24 between the remaining free frontal area 11 of the front member and the bumper beam 2. Fig. 3a,b illustrates still another embodiment of the assembly. The frontal part of the longitudinal front member 1 exhibits two convergating surface planes 16,17 linearly extending towards the rear wall 22 of the bumper beam 2. A cavity (split) 18 is provided in the member dividing the converging surface plane parts 16,17 from each other and thus further reducing the actual contact area between the front member and the bumper beam. Also this particular configuration of the front member ensures a free space 24 required for the folding of the front member as shown in Fig. 3c illustrat¬ ing the assembly during the collision. Fig. 4a,b shows yet another embodiment of the assembly. The longitudinal front/rear member 1 in this case has a front part comprising two separate divergating leg parts 12,13 extending towards the bumper beam 2 defining (encompassing) the free space 24 required for free folding of the frontal part of the member, in this case the leg parts 12,13, during the initial period of a vehicle collision. Tests conducted on the bumper assembly provided in accordance with the above described inventive principle and examplified by different employable embodiments thereof, show a successive reduction of the registered peak load with decreasing load transferring contact area between the bumper beam and the front/rear members. Fig. 5 illustrating in the form of a diagram horizontal displacement of the assembly in mm versus measured load in KN confirms that the actual peak load during the initial stage of a simulated collision is reduced by nearly 50% as a function of gradually reducing the contact area between the bumper beam and the frontal part of longitudinal members from a complete 100% contact (curve a) to a contact area reduced to 40% (curve d) of the available cross-sectional area. Curves b and c represent reduction of the contact area to 80 and 60%, respectively. As it appears from the diagram the artificial unstability created in the front walls of the members resulting in free collapse/deformation of the uncon¬ nected frontal parts of the members into the provided free space lowers efficiently the initial peak load and thus avoiding excessive damages to the vehicle body structure, and last but not least reducing the risk of personal injuries for the occupants of the vehicle. An optimal reduction of the actual load transferring contact area will in practice be determined by taking into account also other factors like geometry (configuration) of the applied extruded members, their positioning etc. The present invention is not limited to the above described and illustrated preferred features and embodiments thereof. It is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made to the specifically described and illustrated arrangements without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thus, e.g. as illustrated in Fig. 6, showing in a cross-sectional view a bumper beam 2 of a box-shape configuration defined by a front wall 21, a rear wall 22 and interconnecting side walls 23, all of essentially equal wall thickness, is further provided by a pair of flanges 25 of reduced wall thickness laterally extending on each side of the rear wall 22. These flanges, due to their localization in relation to the side walls 23 and reduced wall thickness, are not significantly partici¬ pating in transfer of impact load from the bumper to the front/rear members but merely providing a larger area facilitating attachment of the bumper to the front/rear members 1 as shown in the Figure. Also in this case the load transferring contact area between the bumper beam and the front/rear members is defined by the reduced rear wall 22 area compared to the area of the front wall 21.

Claims: Claims A bumper assembly in a vehicle body comprising a bumper beam (2) transversely attached to a pair of front/rear longitudinally extending members (1) constituting a part of the front/rear structure of the vehicle body, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that only a portion of the available cross-sectional area (11) of the members (1) is exposed to load from the bumper beam (2) , forming a connection of reduced load transferring area and ensuring a free space (24) between the remaining unconnected frontal area of the longitudinal members and the bumper beam (2) . The assembly according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that a contact load transferring area of the connection between the beam (2) and the members (1) is in a range from 40 to 80% of the total available cross- sectional area of the members. The assembly according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the cross-sectional configuration of the bumper beam (2) comprises a rear wall (22) of reduced load transferring area compared to the area of a front wall (21) and where the rear wall (22) is directly connected to the longitudinal member (1) . 4. The assembly according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that a separate connector (5) is inserted between and attached to the bumper beam (2) and the longitudinal member (1) , the connector having a load transferring cross-sectional area at least towards the longi¬ tudinal member (1) less than the available frontal area of the longitudinal member. 5. The assembly according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that a front part of the longitudinal member (1) is provided with a pair of mutually convergating surface planes (16,17) linearly extending towards the bumper beam (2) . 6. The assembly according to claim 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the front part of the longitudinal member (1) further is provided with a central cavity (18) extending substantially along the convergating surface planes (16,17). 7. The assembly according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that a front part of the longitudinal member (1) com¬ prises two separated divergating leg parts (12,13) extending towards the bumper beam (2) .

Inventors: CLAUSEN EDVIN LIST, LOEKKE THOMAS, CLAUSEN, EDVIN, LIST, LOEKKE, THOMAS
Applicants: CLAUSEN EDVIN LIST, LOEKKE THOMAS, NORSK HYDRO AS, CLAUSEN, EDVIN, LIST, LOEKKE, THOMAS, NORSK HYDRO A.S
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B60R19
IPC codes: B60R19